Author: Amrit Santlani
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr survived a major scare as the Saudi Pro League club made a remarkable comeback to beat Shabab Al Ahli 4-2. Two minutes away from being eliminated from the AFC Champions League group play-off, Cristiano Ronaldo’s side managed to equalize in injury time before securing a dramatic victory.
Although the Portuguese talisman didn’t score, he was influential and, after half-time, Ronaldo was seen having an animated discussion with the referee because he thought he should have given away two penalties in the first half.
However, Brazilian striker Anderson Talisca scored twice and Ronaldo’s assist for Marcelo Brozovic helped the Suadi club advance to the ACL group stage, which starts next month. Al Nassr faced Shabab Al Ahli in Riyadh on Tuesday at Mrsool Park.
Ronaldo and Co. needed just 11 minutes to open the scoring, with Talisca scoring from a corner taken by Brozovic, but the joy didn’t last long as Al Ahli responded almost instantly through Yahya Al Ghassani.
The UAE champions launched a counter-attack and Yahya Al Ghassani was on hand to score. After the restart, Al Nassr’s defense was taken by surprise when Ghassani broke free of the defenders and gave Al Ahli the lead.
The score remained 2-1 until an own goal from Walid Abbas, who inadvertently deflected a header from Sultan Al Ghannam into his own net, saved Ronaldo’s men from elimination.
In stoppage time, Brazilian striker Talisca scored another header to put Al Nassr ahead, before Ronaldo gave Brozovic the pass to complete the comeback as Shabab Al Ahli suffered a late collapse.
While Talisca was crucial for Al Nassr, as the Brazilian completed the entire game, his countryman Renan also played the entire match, but was unable to help his team avoid defeat.
In addition to Al Nassr, Sharjah from the United Arab Emirates, Navbahor Namangan from Uzbekistan and AGMK Olmaliq have also secured their places in the group stage.